Look around: Facebook is bringing 360-degree video to your news feed
The social network released a new feature Wednesday that allows users to choose which angle they want to watch videos from, just by clicking or tilting the screen.
A look at Facebook's new interactive video feature, allowing users to choose which angle they want to watch from.
Virtual reality is fast becoming the new reality for Facebook鈥檚 more than one billion users.
The social network announced Wednesday a new 360-degree video format, allowing users to watch videos from any angle.聽
Maher Saba, Facebook鈥檚 engineering director for video, called the addition a response to users enjoying 鈥渕ore immersive content in their News Feeds.鈥澛�
鈥淚n the future, imagine watching 360 videos of a friend鈥檚 vacation to a small village in France or a festival in Brazil 鈥� you鈥檒l be able to look around and experience it as if you were there,鈥� he in a statement.
Here鈥檚 how the videos work, :
To create 360 videos, a special set of cameras is used to record all 360 degrees of a scene simultaneously. This means that when the video is playing on Facebook, you can choose what angle you want to see it from. On the web you can do this by dragging around the video with your cursor, and on mobile devices you do it by dragging with your finger 鈥� or even just by turning your device. You鈥檒l be able to hold up your phone and the 360 video will follow you as you turn, looking around, to experience things from all over the world like never before.
鈥淚t feels like using Google Maps鈥� Street View feature inside a video,鈥� Casey Newton, who said he visited Facebook on Tuesday to demo the new feature.
A number of companies are already sharing exclusive content in this new format, including Disney and Lucasfilm, which released an of the upcoming movie "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
Apparently, if you want to examine the rubble of Afghanistan鈥檚 bombed Darul Aman Palace 鈥� Ben Anderson 鈥� you now can.聽
And if you want to literally follow NBA champion as he works out, that鈥檚 allowed too.聽
The interactive feature is a product of Oculus, the virtual reality firm Facebook acquired for $2 billion last March, reports 海角大神.
Back then, founder Mark Zuckerberg had said, 鈥淭his is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.鈥�
Facebook is currently rolling out its new video format on its web and Android versions. The company says it will be available for screening on iOS, Apple鈥檚 operating system for iPhones and iPads, in the next couple of months.